New DVDs are released every Tuesday, which leads us to the eternal question: What should you buy? Our critic Charles Bottomley weighs in on every week’s must-haves and please-forgets.
Beowulf
Hwaet! Polar Express director Robert Zemeckis gives the Anglo-Saxon epic the motion-capture treatment. For those who snoozed through English 101, Beowulf is a buff warrior defending a Norse kingdom from a psychotic troll (voiced by Back to the Future alum Crispin Glover). Adequate, bawdy and antiseptic blood ‘n’ guts, with a naked and nipple-less Angelina Jolie thrown in for good measure.
Extras: A series of featurettes chart the interesting trip Beowulf has taken from barbarian entertainment to big-screen blockbuster, although the deleted scenes’ animation is incomplete.
Rating: Cýpan in Old English, or “buy” in the current version.
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We polled, cajoled and otherwise extracted a list of 2007′s top movies from our intrepid staff. Here it is.
Control
Dutch photographer Anton Corbijn found his initial flicker of fame by shooting post-punk bands like Joy Division, so it follows that his first feature film, Control, focuses on the same subject. If there’s any justice in the world, he’ll find just as much success as a director as he has as a photographer. Control is breathtaking, figuratively (because it’s unfailingly gorgeous) and literally (because it follows Joy Division frontman’s life up until his suicide at 23). It’s Sam Riley’s show for the taking, and he’s more than fit for the job: his portrayal of Curtis is nothing but nuance. He’s quietly cocky, generous, selfish, insecure, difficult, arrogant, tortured, humorous and so much more. It’s potentially conception-smashing: Getting to know a well-rounded facsimile makes Curtis’ death that much more of a tragedy. Corbijn’s work experience allows him to frame the band flawlessly. Control is shot in glorious black and white and it’s composed so that just about each individual shot would make a devastating still photograph. The depth of soul and painstaking craftsmanship that went into making Control are apparent. To portray a band as intense as Joy Division, it really couldn’t have been any other way. (Rich Juzwiak)
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